A nation-wide call given by the All India Organisation of Chemists and Druggists (AIOCD) to shut medical stores on Wednesday (May 20) in protest against online sale of medicines received a mixed response in Karnataka.

While medical stores affiliated to the Karnataka Chemists and Druggists Association (KCDA) and Bengaluru Pharma Retailers and Distributors Forum (BPRDF) remained closed, the Karnataka Pharma Retailers and Distributors Organisation extended moral support to the protest and asked chemists to continue business wearing black badges instead of downing shutters. Likewise, stores affiliated to the Bangalore District Chemists and Druggists Association (BDCDA) also functioned with chemists wearing black badges.  

The AIOCD represents more than 12.4 lakh medicine traders across the country. Karnataka alone has around 45,000 retail medicine shops. However, only a section of them participated in the shutdown. Medical stores operating within hospitals, including government hospitals, also remained open.

Raghunath Reddy R., president of KCDA and BPRDF, claimed that the bandh on May 20 was a success, with all 26,000 stores affiliated to the associations remaining shut.

“In Bengaluru, around 6,500 stores affiliated to our association participated in the protest. The strike was inevitable as online pharmacies are openly bypassing The Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940, which prohibits direct home delivery and online sale of medicines,” he said.

Pointing out that e-pharmacies were flouting price control regulations by offering huge discounts of up to 40%, far beyond the 16% to 20% retail margin fixed for traditional shops, he said such practices threatened the survival of small retailers.

Protest without shutting stores

BDCDA president B. Thirunavukkarasu said their protest was staged without shutting down pharmacies. “Our protest is not only against the unregulated online sale of medicines, but also against unfair settlement of expired goods on MRP-to-MRP basis, including cut strips, and counterfeit medicine infiltration across inter-State and intra-State markets. We are also against misleading psychological advertisements on social media, exorbitant discounts, digital pickpocketing of consumers, unethical trade practices, and digitally driven healthcare models that threaten ethical pharmacy practice, patient safety, and the survival of licensed retail pharmacies,” he said.